An Istanbul court found Say guilty over a series of posts on the social networking site Twitter.

Say was not in court for the sentencing. But he denied the charges, saying they were politically motivated.

The case renewed concern about the influence of religion on politics in Turkey.

Pointing to the prosecution of several artists and intellectuals for voicing their views, critics have accused the governing AK Party of undermining Turkey's secular values and pandering to Islamists.

Prosecutors had brought the charges against Mr Say last June. He could have faced a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.

The indictment against him cited some tweets, including a retweet by Mr Say which says: "I am not sure if you have also realised it, but if there's a louse, a non-entity, a lowlife, a thief or a fool, it's always an Allah-ist."

Mr Say has previously said he was "amazed" at the charges.

Mr Say, 43, has played with the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and others, and has served as a cultural ambassador for the EU.

He shouldn't have to, Robert - I can't count all of the theists groups who would love to see all atheists leave America so they can have it all to themselves, but we should all have the right to believe or not believe, as we choose, wherever we are.

I agree with you there, but Turkey is a total shithole even if you ignore the creeping theocracy. The uncivilized masses and jingoists are the majority. Best to evacuate the proper people and then unleash some super-virus on the rest.